Monday, February 27, 2012

Which, for American readers, is Terra Nearly-Incognita. These days, anyway. Canadians, who have been coming to Cuba for sun, fun and wintertime relaxation for going on 40 years now, continue to wonder when one of the last vestiges of the Cold War will come to an end, and something like normalisation of relations between Cuba and the USA will get started. One can hope.

In my posting two weeks ago, I lamented - I think lament is the correct word - the problems with my fourth Inspector Stride Mystery. In a sense this ties in with the title of today's posting. I think that all of us who write, and who entertain expectations from our publishers, become clock watchers after a fashion. In my own case, the original end-of-January deadline is long gone. If the end of January is no longer a "go", then the time frame shifts forward by six months, and is reset, in the manner of a clock, to the end of July, 2012. Although July seems a long way in the future, with snow still on the ground in Canada (but not in Cuba) and cold winds blowing, it really is little enough time for a major rewrite.

Back to the "other" clockwatching now. And that is about a fascinating production called The Clock, currently on exhibition at Ottawa's Natonal Gallery. It's an ambitious offering by Christian Marclay, a Swiss-American visual artist and composer, currently dividing his time between London and New York. The Clock is described as a compilation of time-related scenes from movies, and it runs for a full 24 hours. The time sequences in the compilation match the times of the actual viewing. In scene after scene, a clock or watch will appear on the screen, or a voice will state the time in the clip, and this matches up with the time on your watch.

As a movie buff of some standing, I wanted to see at least part of The Clock. My partner, rather less of a movie buff than I, said she would watch part of it, but maybe only a few minutes. With that caution in mind, we went to the National gallery at 2 one Saturday afternoon, and settled onto a sofa - after a ten-minute wait, that is, because when we entered it was standing room only. At five past four we were both still there, and when we did leave, it was reluctantly. We went back again the next day, arriving at four (to catch the continuity) and we left - again reluctantly - at six-thirty. The show really does grab you - obviously!

That Marclay has tapped into a vast number of films, some familiar, some not, goes without saying. Every genre is covered., from drama to comedy to science fiction to westerns, grainy silent films, German Productions, Japanese productions, American, French and British productions.Many familiar faces march across the screen, while many more are only vaguely familiar, or not familiar at all. And for each short sequence - few are longer than a minute - there is a time reference; a clock tower - Big Ben is very popular -

a clock on a wall, a watch on a wrist - many, no doubt, in the original film there as a product placement - or a spoken time notation. "What time is it now?" is a much-repeated line of dialogue.

There is also the famous scene of Harold Lloyd, from his 1923 romantic comedy, Safety Last, dangling from the hands of a clock on a skyscraper, far above the streets of what might be New York City. (And the visual is enhanced if one is aware that Lloyd did all his own stunt work.)

A review of The Clock in the Guardian newspaper makes reference to the "trance-like state" that the production induces in the viewer. And it's true. It is very hard to get up and leave, even after more than two hours. I think of it as visual-mental popcorn; as in, please sir, may I have just one piece more? You want to stay and see what happens next. And to test yourself. Can you identify the film the clip is taken from? Can you identify the actors, the familiar and semi-familiar faces up there on the screen?

Even if I consider myself a film buff of a sort, I have to admit that I could identify perhaps only 15% of the films, and maybe 20% of the faces. Mostly, it was a case of "I know who that is, it's....." But more often than not, the name does not come. Same for many of the clips. In my heart of hearts, I hope that someone, somewhere, has listed all the films and all the actors, and in correct sequence, so that on some future occasion I can consult the printout, while I watch trance-like. And this being the age of informational tsunamis, someone probably has, or is hard at it.

But back to Cuba, now. We are clockwatching here, also. It's Monday, and we head back to the snow and the cold on Thursday. Sad to say. But it's been a great holiday. The sun is bright and hot, the sky is blue, the waters are warm, and the beach is white sand. The resort is first-rate, the food and drink abundant, and very high quality. The staff are polite and friendly. And this for sure: one gets no sense that one is visiting a Communist state. Not a single picture of the brothers Castro anywhere. Or any sense of regimentation or oppression. This is definitely not North Korea. No resemblance at all.

But enough of this keyboard stuff. The beach and the ocean and the swimming pools beckon. There is also a first-class gym where I can contend with the accumulated excess of the past 4 days.

3 comments:

Tom, I thought it interesting that last nights Academy Awards were dedicated to the past. I haven't seen the Artist, but have heard it isn't even a "talkie" and is in black and white. Talk about turning back the clock!

Rick Blechta writes on Tuesdays

Barbara Fradkin writes on alternate Wednesdays

Sybil Johnson writes on Alternate Wednesdays

Donis Casey writes on alternate Thursdays

John Corrigan writes on alternate Thursdays

Charlotte Hinger writes on alternate Fridays

Frankie Bailey writes on Alternate Fridays

Vicki Delany writes on the second weekend of every month

Mario Acevedo writes on the 4th Saturday of each month

Aline Templeton

Aline Templeton lives in Edinburgh in a house with a balcony overlooking the beautiful city skyline. Her series featuring DI Marjory Fleming is set in beautiful Galloway, in South-west Scotland. alinetempleton.co.uk

Rick Blechta

Rick has two passions in life, mysteries and music, and his thrillers contain liberal doses of both. He has two upcoming releases, Roses for a Diva, his sequel to The Fallen One, for Dundurn Press, and for Orca’s Rapid Reads series, The Boom Room, a second book featuring detectives Pratt & Ellis. You can learn more about what he’s up to at www.rickblechta.com. From the musical side, Rick leads a classic soul band in Toronto. Check out SOULidifiedband.com. And lastly, being a former line cook with an interest in all things culinary, he has a blog dedicated to food: A Man for All Seasonings.

Barbara Fradkin

Barbara Fradkin is a retired psychologist with a fascination for how we turn bad. Her dark short stories haunt the Ladies Killing Circle anthologies, but she is best known for her award-winning series featuring the quixotic, exasperating Ottawa Police Inspector Michael Green, published by Dundurn Press. The ninth book, The Whisper of Legends, was published in April 2013. Visit Barbara at barbarafradkin.com.

Sybil Johnson

Sybil Johnson’s love affair with reading began in kindergarten with “The Three Little Pigs.” Visits to the library introduced her to Encyclopedia Brown, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and a host of other characters. Fast forward to college where she continued reading while studying Computer Science. After a rewarding career in the computer industry, Sybil decided to try her hand at writing mysteries. Her short fiction has appeared in Mysterical-E and Spinetingler Magazine, among others. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, she now lives in Southern California where she enjoys tole painting, studying ancient languages and spending time with friends and family. Find her at www.authorsybiljohnson.com.

Donis Casey

Donis is the author of six Alafair Tucker Mysteries. Her award-winning series, featuring the sleuthing mother of ten children, is set in Oklahoma during the booming 1910s. Donis is a former teacher, academic librarian, and entrepreneur. She lives in Tempe, AZ, with her husband, poet Donald Koozer. The latest Alafair Tucker novel, The Wrong Hill to Die On (Poisoned Pen Press, 2012), is available in paper or electronic format wherever books are sold. Readers can enjoy the first chapter of each book on her web site at www.doniscasey.com.

John R Corrigan

John R. Corrigan is D.A. Keeley, author of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agent Peyton Cote series, which is set along the Maine-Canada border. Bitter Crossing (summer 2014) will be the first of at least three novels in the series. Born in Augusta, Maine, he lives with his wife and three daughters at Northfield Mount Hermon School in western Massachusetts, where he is English department chair, a teacher, a hockey coach, and may very well be the only mystery writer in North America who also serves as a dorm parent to 50 teenage girls. A Mainer through and through, he tries to get to Old Orchard Beach, Maine, as often as possible. You can see what he's up to by visiting www.amazon.com/author/DAKeeley or dakeeleyauthor.blogspot.com or on Twitter (@DAKeeleyAuthor).

Charlotte Hinger

Charlotte Hinger is a novelist and Western Kansas historian. Convinced that mystery writing and historical investigation go hand in hand, she now applies her MA in history to academic articles and her depraved imagination to the Lottie Albright series for Poisoned Pen Press. charlottehinger.com

Frankie Bailey

Frankie Y. Bailey is a criminal justice professor who focuses on crime, history, and American culture. Her current project is a book about dress, appearance, and criminal justice. Her mystery series featuring crime historian Lizzie Stuart is set mainly in the South. Her near-future police procedural series featuring Detective Hannah McCabe is set in Albany, New York. Visit Frankie at frankieybailey.com.

Vicki Delany/Eva Gates

Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers. She is the author of more than 25 books, including the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series, the Year Round Christmas cozy series, the Constable Molly Smith books, standalone novels of suspense, the Klondike Gold Rush series, and novellas for adult literacy. As Eva Gates, she is the author of the national bestselling Lighthouse Library cozy series from Penguin. Find Vicki at www.vickidelany.com and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/evagatesauthor/

Mario Acevedo

Mario Acevedo is the author of the Felix Gomez detective-vampire series. His short fiction is included in the anthologies, You Don’t Have A Clue: Latino Mystery Stories for Teens and Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery, and in Modern Drunkard Magazine. Mario lives with a dog in Denver, CO. His website is marioacevedo.com.